


Secrets of the Real World

by Ash101



Category: Original Work
Genre: Humor, Multi, Suicidal Thoughts, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:07:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25718545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ash101/pseuds/Ash101
Summary: Her life could be worse, and she knows it. She could be living on the streets with no food or shelter, she could have no family or a family who mistreats her more than the family she has now. So she should be a little grateful for what she has, right? She isn’t. This girl is blinded from ignorance and incompetence of seeing how the real world is. She does not know how the real world functions compared to the small, fictional one that she’s in now. Now the question is, could she survive the real world and how it is in her position right now? Could she finally see that where she is living right now is a fantasy and nothing is as it seems, and accept it? Let’s find out.
Kudos: 2





	Secrets of the Real World

**Chapter 1**

_This is the story of a girl who thought she had nothing to lose. A girl who thought that she had nothing going for her, and who thought she had no adventure or excitement in her life._

_She always goes on her daily routine for the average high school teenager. Wake up, get ready, make lunch for her younger brother, go to school, go to the classes she’s assigned to. Afterwards, go home, do chores, do homework, have dinner, and go to bed._

_It goes on and on, nonstop. Nothing changes. Nothing different ever happens. There is only the slight exception of the holidays or the rare moments where she can do something with a friend._ _Other than that, her life is the definition of insanity. And like the world, it goes ‘round and ‘round._

_Her life could be worse, and she knows it. She could be living on the streets with no food or shelter. She could have no family or a family who mistreats her more than the family she has now. So she should be a little grateful for what she has, right?_

_She isn’t. This girl is blind from ignorance and incompetence of seeing how the real world is. She does not know how real world functions compared to the small, fictional world that she’s in now._

_Now the question is, could she survive the real world an d how it is in her position right now? Could she finally see that where she is living right now is a fantasy and nothing is as it seems, and accept it? Let’s find out._

It’s the last week of school. Katy Harris is sitting on her desk, working on her History Final Exam. She may be almost done, but it feels like it has taken days to finish this test.  If she is dying already from her first final alone, how is she going to survive through the rest of the finals she has to take ?

She was wondering this as her best friend, Anastasia, was poking her and  secretly asking what the answer was on #78 .

Her mind was up in the clouds; she was so consumed inside her own head until Annie stabbed her pencil into Katy’s freckled arm .

Katy's bright bluish-green at her friend, surprised by the sudden pain.  The impatient little girl called friend points to the note where her question  was written .

She looks at Annie’s hazel puppy dog eyes, and rolls hers as she writes down the letter that she has to fill in before going back to her own sheet . Katy heaves a sigh and looks at the question that she’s stuck on.

The kid inside her says to give up and find a place to get ice cream, but the stubborn adult says to get back to work.

Why isn’t there any more freedom for people like her these days? In the good old days, she could play outside for as long as she wanted. She could even take ten-hour naps, and no one would complain. Nowadays, she’s always on this tight, ongoing schedule that never changes and has no slack at all.

She was replaying this thought in her head as she slaves to finish the test that she has to do. When she finally puts her full sheet on the desk face down, she puts her hand on her chin and focuses her eyes at the window. Outside of the window shows grey skies with no ounce of blue showing. Guess even the Earth knows that it’s going to be a crappy day.

Katy looks back at her sheet and guesses the answer,  quickly going to the next question. As soon as she bubbles the final question, she turns her paper over and looks at where Annie is on hers. Annie isn’t even halfway done, and she only has about twenty minutes left.

Feeling sympathetic, Katy writes down the letter answers and  discreetly gives the little piece of paper to her anxious friend .

Thank God we’re in the back row  , she thought. Annie smiles and mouths “thank you” while the nonchalant teenager nods and goes back to the window.

After about fifteen minutes pass, Mr. V, the History teacher, asks everyone to pass their sheets over to him.  Katy passes her test down and looks at her small, chubby friend scrambling to answer the last few questions . “Alright, come on guys, unless you WANT to have a 0 on this,” Mr. V says, looking at Annie. She finally finishes and puts it on his desk in a frantic manner. “Thank you.”

Annie sighs and heads back towards Katy. “Wait a second…” Mr V holds up Annie’s test, “Oh Annie?”

She freezes up and  gradually turns towards the teacher. “Y-yes?”

He shakes his head and makes a heaving sigh. “Your name?” He waves the paper at her.

“Oh! S-sorry about that.” She walks  rapidly to Mr. V, takes the test, and writes down her name on the piece of paper.

“Thank you Anastasia. NOW you can go back to your seat.”

Katy’s frightened friend nods. She walks back to her desk with her head down and her round face glowing cherry red as people stare. As soon as she sits down, she drops her head on the desk from embarrassment. Katy puts her hand on Annie’s fragile shoulder. “Hey, don’t sweat it. You’re fine.” She whispers  coolly .  Anastasia's anxiety has been quite the problem these past few months since her dad passed away .  Katy only wishes for her friend to go back to smiling and laughing, instead of cowering in the corner while her mind eats her up .

“Okay class!” Mr. V shouts out. “The pain and suffering is over. For the remaining...” He looks at the clock. “Fifteen minutes. You can do what you want.  Just don’t set the class on fire.”

Right then the class fills with a jumbled sound that you can hear from a mile away. From the boys talking about the latest video game to the girls gossiping about the hottest style.  Basically every kind of situation that a normal teenager has. You name it! For as long as she has been here, Katy has been sick and tired of this childish banter. Not that anyone needs to know though.

Annie turns her head to Katy. “Oh gosh… I thought I was dead for sure back there.”

“Oh please, get into my shoes.” Katy declares in a dramatic fashion. “I sacrificed my reputation to get you to pass.” She puts her back-hand on her forehead like a damsel in distress. “Oh! The agony! The torture!”  She was hoping for Annie to laugh or at least crack a smile, but unfortunately Anastasia was taking everything  seriously .

Annie gave Katy a cold glare of embarrassment. “Hey shush.  At least you weren’t  publicly embarrassed by your teacher…” She puffs out her cheeks while her malfunctioning hands fidget around .

Katy shrugs her shoulders. “That’s karma for ya. I mean, come on. Who said that sins don’t come with punishment. And besides…” Her now cold eyes look into Annie’s. “It could’ve been much worse. Trust me.”

“I know that…” Annie replies  shyly .

Katy smiles and pats Annie’s back with sympathy. “Then stop mourning over it. You’re fine, okay?”

The introverted girl adjusts her glasses and sighs. “Okay…” She sweeps her short hair back. “Hey Katy? ”

Katy toys with her hoodie strings and looks at her friend. “Yeah?”

“Do you think I should bleach more of my hair?” She grabs her bleached bang and twists it.

“Pfft. How did that come in mind?”

“ Just should I or not?” She looks down with red cheeks. Annie has never been fond with herself in any aspect.  She always changes herself from her hair to her clothes to try to  'look better than she is , '  but Katy has always seen Annie as beautiful . Katy never believed that someone should change themselves if there isn't a need to. It's like that phrase everyone says,  "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Carelessly , Katy tips her chair a little while thinking. “Hmm…” She plays with her strawberry-blonde bangs. “Nah.”

“What?! Why?”

“Hey, you wanted an answer, you got one." She leans back and stretches her arms in the air. "And  seriously , why do you want to bleach more of your hair? I like your brown hair as it is.” She pauses for a second or two. “To be honest, I liked it better when it wasn’t bleached at all.”

Annie winced at Katy's bluntness. She puts her hands into her hoodie pockets and looks to the side a little with sad eyes. “You... you don’t like how I bleached it the first time?”

“I didn’t say that…” She puts her chin on the desk and looks at her best pal trying to look as calm as possible. “I have only said that I liked you hair BETTER when it wasn’t bleached. That doesn’t mean it looks terrible.” She sits up. “Why do you ask?”

Annie puts on a poignant face. “Never-mind. It was stupid anyway…”

The nosy little blonde puckers her lips and leans closer to her friend. “Aw, pwease? For your best fwiend?” Katy nudges against Anastasia's shoulder as Annie  silently pleads for her to stop. After a couple seconds, Annie pushed Katy back and glared at her  tiredly .

“I said no!” She said it so loud that the whole class looked at her  strangely . The oblivious girl scowls and looks down.

Surprised by the outburst, Mr. V stopped whatever he was doing and looks towards Annie. “Ahem. Uh, Anastasia?”

Annie almost flinches as she comes back to reality. Her wide eyes  slowly fixate on her impatient teacher. "Y...yeah?"

He gives the startled girl a pathetic glance, then goes back to his laid back, sarcastic posture. "Take your loud outbursts outside if you want to be so noisy."

The class, besides Katy, starts snickering while looking at Annie as if she was a piece of entertainment in their mundane lives . Annie slides down her chair and drops her head into the hole of her black hoodie jacket.

Putting a hand on Annie's shoulder, Katy glares at the rest of the class, her eyes turning an icy blue, then continues to comfort her friend .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two girls walk out of the cold classroom and into the boiling sun as soon as the bell rang. Katy then pats Annie’s shoulder  kindheartedly . "Hey, I'm sorry for being so pushy back there. You gonna be okay?"

While her mouth struggles to curve up to a smile, Annie’s eyes water up and she nods her drooping head. "Mhm. I'm fine."

"Now don't lie to me, girl." Katy looks into her eyes as if she could see what's behind them.

Annie's hands grip onto the bottom of her jacket and turned her head to the side. "I-I'm fine,  really ." She slumps her shoulders down, making herself look smaller than normal.

Katy narrows her eyes, but then they knitted into a frown as she glances at her friend's fidgeting hands. "Hey, it's okay. What's going o_"

"I have to go bye!" She steps away and makes a run for it.

"Wait!" Katy cried aloud, but Annie was already gone.

She takes a quick step to go after her, but then a certain voice stops her in her tracks. "Did something happen?"

She turns towards the familiar voice to see a familiar face: Malcolm Ziek.

Malcolm and Katy have known each other since Freshman year. Though even if they've known each other for only a few years, it feels as if they could write a book about one another. What  truly kept their friendship together was their weirdness.  They used to mess around all the time, saying terrible jokes and shouting random things to each other when walking by .  Malcolm became one of the only people Katy trusts with her feelings and secrets, and Malcolm is the same with Katy . She can't count how many times they have been there for each other.

"Oh hey, Malcolm.” She faces him  fully and scratches the back of her head. “Yeah, she hasn't been in the lightest mood today.  Hopefully she'll feel better soon though."

He crosses his toned arms with a worrying stare and looks down. "Yeah,  hopefully . How have you been doing?"

"I've been doing pretty good so far. How…” She swallows her saliva and clears her throat. “How have you been feeling lately? It's uh, been a while since we last talked." Which is true.  With so many things going on in each other's lives, and their mutual breakup Sophomore year, they haven't given the time to hang out with one another as much . Though  maybe they will be able to when things cool down.

Malcolm turns his eyes for a moment then looks back. "I've been alright," he smiles, "no need to worry."

She furrows her brows, but doesn't open her mouth.

"But hey, looks like summer is finally approaching."

Katy puts her hands in her pockets and lets out a soft chuckle. "Yep. Time for the daily tan and sunny beaches."

He laughs. "Yep. And I'll get a tan myself.  Maybe I'll go run in slow motion on the shore while I'm at it."

"And I'll join you!" They both laugh in unison as Katy snorts and Malcolm becomes short of breath. It's like when they first became friends, joking about doing things and then not actually do them. It  was known to both of them that they won't have much time to go to the beach. It was senior year, which meant that after graduation, college classes are in order.

Katy eyes Malcolm's brownish-blonde hair. "I still can't believe your hair is longer, I'm so used to your buzz cut."

"Haha yeah, and these glasses make me look like a  totally different person." Malcolm points to his thick black glasses and takes them off, pulling out a soft cloth with the other hand.

"Do you need them all day or...?"

Malcolm chuckles as he cleans his glasses and puts them away. "Nah, not all the time. Only to read what's on the board and write, other than that I'm fine."

Katy takes a deep breath. "Oh! Before I forget. How's Band doing? And I know that you quit ROTC and everything, but are you still training?"

He laughs a little. "Woah slow down, one at a time.”

"Sorry.” She points her thumb behind her. “I  just have to rush."

"Well if that's the case…” He adjusts his hat and takes a step backward. “Why don't you go on after her?"

She frowns. "Oh no, I didn't mean that. I don't wanna leave you hanging..."

"It's fine, I understand." He smiles  understandingly . "I know how much you worry for her, especially with her recent panic attacks. We can talk later. And if I see her, you'll be the first person I text."

"Um okay. thank you.” She turns around, but then looks back at him. “So I'll...see you later?"

He nods. "Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow, sound good?"

"Yeah, that sounds great." She waves. "See you later."

"See you." He starts to inch away from her, but Katy remembers something. "Wait, Malcolm!"

He turns towards her with a confused glance. "Yeah?"

She cuffs the sides of her mouth. "CHEESE!"

Malcolm laughs and returns the comment. "BOLOGNA!"

Their weird ways of departing was always comforting. They both share another laugh until it  eventually dies out from awkwardness. "Haha. Well see ya."

Katy waits for Malcolm to disappear completely before  dreadfully sighing. Her eyes become weak and her feeble nature starts to show. "I really hope you're okay..." Ever since her and Malcolm has started to drift apart, he has become less like himself from when she first met him. His smiles seem less genuine and more forced. He acts tired almost all the time to the point he has been cutting back on his activities. If she had the power to  instantly heal him, she could. But how could she? She didn't have any super powers and she had problems of her own.

She shakes her head and  swiftly runs out towards Anastasia’s direction. The only hope she has is that Anastasia is in the Library.

As soon as she sees the double doors, she finally slows down her pace and reaches for the door, but somebody else opens it from inside .

Lee Umbridge: one could tell that he is a former football player by his figure alone; he's not fat, but very husky with some muscle .  Their friendship is stable to say the least, but things have gotten awkward because of things that happened in the past . Last year, he lied to her about needing a break to focus on his studies but then proceeded to go to another girl.  She has never talked to him or tried to even look at him ever since that day, so it has been a bit unbearable to withstand the  extremely awkward silence .

Katy stares at his brunette eyes for what seemed like forever, but he  eventually opens the door for her. She opens her mouth in surprise, yet she doesn’t do anything but smile at him as  politely as she could. "Thanks, Lee." She starts walking inside before hearing his voice.

"Um... How are things?"

She turns back shocked, but goes along with it. "Things have been fine. What about you?"

"Well, I've been fine." Lee pauses and messes with his dark brown hair. "I…” He turns a bit and loses eye contact. “See you around..."

"Okay, bye." She walks inside and looks around to see her friend is nowhere to  be found .

Worried to bits, she takes out her phone and goes to messages to send a text:  Hey. Where are you? Are you alright?

With no leads to where Annie might  possibly be, she sits down to a computer and types into a cite: Gradebook.com.  Examining every class grade, she sees that her grades are fine as they should be, besides that one C that she  absolutely needs to bring up .  Almost satisfied, she stands up and reminds herself that she has ear buds in her backpack as she pulls it out of the little pocket it was in . The song plays right when the bell rings, and she starts walking over to her English class.

Stepping closer to her class, her phone vibrates. She  excitedly takes it out to check who it was, but it was only an email notification for her daily horoscope.  Squeezing the phone, she huffed a sigh and shoved her phone into her pocket and speed-walks to her classroom door .

Katy eyes around to see her other friend, Victoria, waving her large arms  frantically and calling her name . Out of all the classmates, she was easiest to spot because of her massive size. She looks like she could squeeze someone in half because of how big she is, but she is  just a  motherly teddy bear.  And by  motherly , it means she will be sweet and funny until someone she cares about gets hurt, then she will throw hands .  Katy knows this because when she broke up with Lee, Victoria schemed many methods of torture and pain and almost punched the guy . Thank the Lord Katy talked her out of it.

Katy’s lips curve up at the memory as she shakes her head. She walks to the desk and sits next to her impatient friend.

“What the heck girl?” Victoria taps Katy’s shoulder  teasingly . “You were almost late again, what did you get caught up with this time? A new potential boyfriend?” She only says this because of out of  all of Katy's girl friends, she is the only one to actually have a boyfriend.

Katy chuckles a bit, giving Victoria a brutish smirk. "Oh please. If I did, I wouldn't be in class right now." She puts her head down with a shy smile. “And actually, I was doing a ballistic search for Annie.”

Victoria’s lips lower down to a frown as she pushes her glasses to the bridge of her nose. “Oh no, is she having panic attacks again?”

“No, not exactly.” Katy messes with her short hair. “She wasn’t  really panicking.  She  just snapped about something I said and then got embarrassed from the teacher pointing it out, and the other students laughed at her .”

“Yikes. Do you think she’ll be okay?”

Sighing  heavily , Katy looks down. “I’m not sure, I hope so.”

“Okay.” Victoria pats Katy on the back and smiles as best as she can. “I bet she’ll be fine." She tightens her pony tail, pulling her long and curly dirty-blonde hair. "She’s a strong girl, and I know she can handle herself.” She puts her hand on Katy's shoulder. "I know you're worried about her, I am too to be honest. But right now, we can't do anything about it. So relax, she will be fine and so will you."

Katy curves her lips up to a smile, but her eyes say otherwise. “Thanks, I hope you’re right about that.”

The whole class turns silent as soon as the teacher, Mrs. Whitmore, slaps a towering stack of papers on her desk. “Alright class, there is a change of plans today since I have a headache and I don’t want to grade boring tests.”

Everyone in the room sighs in relief.

“Instead.” Mrs. Whitmore takes one sheet from the stack and shows it off to the class. “We will be doing a poetry slam.”

Victoria and Katy’s eyes lighten up a bit as most of the class groans in unison.

Mrs. Whitmore scoffs. “What? You thought we would be watching a movie like an elementary schooler? I don’t think so.” She passes the stack around in sections before she drops back down to her chair.

“You have until ten minutes before the bell rings to finish this. Everything you need for it is on the paper.” The teacher then takes out her phone and stares at the screen while waving her other hand. “You guys get the jist, but no talking.”

Katy looks at the prompt: Melancholy feelings from a 3rd point of view.

As soon as Katy put her pencil on the paper, she already knew what to write. Her hands became sore after she  was finished , but it was definitely worth it:

_Gazing at the moonlit starlight, she worries about what will happen the next day._

_She worries about who she’ll hurt, who she’ll tarnish next._

_She’s a walking virus, a freak in a human disguise._

_The curse she bears follows her as if it is the very shadow walking beside her._

_Of what she wishes for, the reposition resides instead._

_Who she wishes for health, they suffer in grief and agony._

_Who she wishes to be free, they are given only a barricade._

_Bad luck Mary, bad luck Mary._

_She walks alone in the alley of shadows._

_When she looks out into the starlight, she asks why she had to bear this terrible curse._

_Why was she chosen for this kind of fate?_

_What did she do wrong?_

_As much as she longs to help the ones in need, heal the ones she cares about, she only pushes them away._

_The people she cares about most are who she hurts the most._

_Tears streaking down, she screams in silence._

_In the silence, there is only her and her warm, salty tears._

_The tarnished wings behind her back have given out; they will never fly again._

_She will never be able to touch the sky or glide about the clouds in the sunlit evening._

_Hope for her has been taken away and replaced with regret. _

_Happiness has been replaced with grief._

_The flowers in the meadow turn their heads when seeing her ugly weed of a human being._

_Bad luck Mary. Bad luck Mary._

Katy takes her paper and hands it to Mrs. Whitmore before  briskly walking back to her desk to see how Victoria is doing . It didn’t take long until Katy was on edge from the teacher’s voice.

“Hey Katy?” Whitmore asks in a  creepily polite tone.

Slowly turning her head, Katy eyes at Mrs. Whitmore as she  slowly directs her finger at her and motions to come to her. “Come here, please.”

Katy looks at Victoria’s worried eyes then back to Mrs. Whitmore. Stepping to the desk, Katy crosses her arms and swallows. “Yes, Mrs. Whitmore?”

“I’d like to talk to you about this.” She stands up and walks to the door, opening it for Katy. “ Shall we?”

As soon as Katy steps outside, Whitmore closes the door behind her. “So Katy, you actually wrote this?”

Nodding her head, Katy puts her hands in her pockets. “Yes ma’am.”

Whitmore furrows her brows a bit and nods. “Mhm, and you didn’t plagiarize from any other source?”

“No of course not.” Katy says, raising her voice in annoyance. “That poem is all original, it isn’t based off of anything but my own ideas.”

Smiling, Whitmore puts her hand on her hip. “Well thank goodness, cause that is a pretty creative poem you wrote. You  really know how to put metaphors into your scenes.”

Katy beams and sighs of relief. “Oh my gosh thank you. My dad actually taught me how to write like that. An effective poem has to have emotion.”

“Good, that’s good. Your dad is a writer?”

“Yeah well…” Katy swipes her hair away from her eyes. “He is more like a journalist, but he does write in his spare time.”

“I see, still pretty good though.”

“Thank you.” Katy pauses and looks to the ground before meeting eyes back at Mrs. Whitmore. “May I ask you something about the debate paper I turned in yesterday?”

Whitmore’s face falls as she makes a heavy sigh. “Yeah, that’s actually the main reason why I brought you out here. I’m sorry hon, but I can’t grade that paper. You know my policy of turning in the papers the day it is due.”

“But Mrs. Whitmore, please. Like I said in the note, I thought it was due on Friday and not Wednesday.” Katy crosses her arms and looks to the side a bit. “And I couldn’t turn it in to you because you’ve been sick for ten days. I even emailed you about it.”

“Yes, yes I know, but you know the policy. It wouldn’t be fair to the other students if I let this one slide. College is going to be  just like this, and I want you to learn that before you regret it later on.” Whitmore puts her hands on Katy’s shoulders and smiles  tenderly . “You’re an amazing, talented person Katy. Please don’t let this moment put you down.”

Katy turns away and eyes at the distance as subtle tears appear in the corner of her eye.

Sighing, Whitmore pulls back and grabs the door. “You can come back inside once you gathered yourself up.” She opens the door and disappears into the room as the door closes.

Wiping up the tears with her sleeve, Katy walks back inside with her head down. Victoria taps Katy’s shoulder and whispers. “Hey, are you alright? Did she tear up your poem to pieces or something?"

“No,” Katy wipes away  newly formed tears and puts her hand over her eyes. “No it’s not that, she said she couldn’t grade the debate paper…”

“Even though you explained your situation?”

Katy nods her head  steadily . “And she said that it is against her policy, and it wouldn’t be fair to the other students.” Tears form into Katy’s eyes once more. “What the hell am I gonna do? My parents are gonna kill me when they see I have a C in this class.”

“Calm down, girl.” Victoria pats Katy’s back and smiles with her worrying dark eyes. “It’ll be okay, I’m sure your dad will at least understand.”

“And my mom?”

“Ah, haha…” Victoria scratches the back of her neck. “Yeah uh, that is a whole other case.”

“Mhm.” Sliding her hair back, Katy sighs and rubs her temples on both sides. “I do not want to go home today, I swear to God…”

Chuckling, Victoria shakes her head. “Yeah  I feel that.”

“Ladies!” Whitmore exclaimed  annoyingly .

Both girls turn and stare in unison as their lips curve into a nervous smile. 

“Quiet down, there are other students in the room.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stepping out of the car door, Katy turns back to Victoria and smiles. “Thanks for taking me home again, I  really appreciate it.”

“Don’t sweat it. I told ya, you’re welcome to ride with me anytime, it’s less lonely driving with you.” Victoria eyes at Katy’s house and her smile fades away. “Are...are you sure you don’t wanna come home with me to avoid the crazy?

“Ha, I wish, but you know what would happen if I actually did that…” Katy kicks a small rock as her hands rest in her pockets. “They’d  verbally beat me down for sure.”

“And kick you out of the house with nothing but a backpack, I got it." Victoria adjusts her seat and taps on the steering wheel in a little tune. "But if that happens, there’s always room at my house. You don't need an invitation to come over if things go completely crazy.”

Smiling  warmly , Katy looks at the ground for a second and then looks back at Victoria. “Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.” She walks  cautiously towards the front door and turns back, waving with a worried smile. Victoria waves back with the same smile, shifts a gear, and drives away.  Katy watches as Victoria  slowly disappears from the neighborhood, then turns back to her front door with a long sigh .

Opening the door, Katy walks in and takes her shoes off before locking the door behind her. “I’m home!” No answer; she's by herself again. She walks inside and puts her backpack on the side of the table and sits down on her chair. She reaches backwards to grab her computer, then stops. She turns back and puts her hands on her head looking at the table.

She always wonders why she has to do all this.  Why does life give beautiful lies that life is a blessing until realization hits that adult life is going to be so much harder ?  Everything leads down to a dead end job, college debt, and a whole lot more stress and anger if one decides to make their own family . And for what? What does one have to gain for all this suffering? A little line of retirement with little to no physical ability to do what you want? It's bullshit.

Turning her head, Katy's eyes soften. ' Why can't I escape from this? I don't want to live a life to where I'm stuck to doing status quo. Of course I would want to prove that I can succeed in being an adult, but at what cost? And with a family... ' She shudders at the thought. ' As much as I would love one of my own,  I don't think I'm gonna be ready for that kind of responsibility any time soon. '

Katy shakes her head and looks up, groaning. "I can't procrastinate right now, otherwise Mom and Dad will kill me, especially since it's my ticket way to go through college easier..."

Placing her computer on the table, Katy opens it up and starts to study for other classes.  As much as Katy would  absolutely love to do anything else, she knew that she would get an earful if she didn’t attend to her studies .

Not every kid has these placed expectations of success, but those kids end up with a job that  barely reaches  minimum wage, from Katy’s parent’s point of view of course .  Every mistake Katy partakes in her life is only another reason or excuse for her parents to  verbally bash her for not being good enough . Katy  is used to that treatment though. She may not like it, but she’s used to it.

Hearing the garage door open and close, Katy tries to pretend like she’s doing some work, even though her mind is somewhere else .  The small but determined footsteps of her short, fuming mother come towards Katy until her mom is about a foot from the kitchen table .

“You have one hell of an explanation to give me, Kate.” Her mother, Dianne, stood tall, with arms crossed and blue-green eyes colder than ice.

Katy swallows before speaking  feebly . “W-well what are we_”

“I’m talking about your C in your English class when your father and I EXPLICITLY said that you’re only allowed to have A’s and B’s .” She widens her stance as her foot taps an angered rhythm.

“Yes, right." Katy sighs  softly and puts her hand to the back of her neck. "Listen mom. I know that it looks pretty bad, but the teacher wouldn’t let me turn in the_”

“I DON’T want any excuses from you!” Her voice shook the walls as Katy shrunk into her chair, looking away from her mother’s piercing gaze. “You should’ve worked harder than giving me these stupid, pathetic excuses.”

Katy tries to move her lips, but no noise comes out. She lowers her head in silence as her mom pinches the ridge of her nose.

“Ugh, I can’t deal with you right now, you’re exhausting.” She puts her platinum blonde hair away from her face and turns to walk, but she stops after a couple steps. “Your dad already knows, and he is NOT happy.” She stomps upstairs and closes the master bedroom door.


End file.
